


When words are not enough

by LostinFic



Series: Hardy x Hannah ficlets [13]
Category: Broadchurch, Secret Diary of a Call Girl (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Ficlet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-16
Updated: 2016-06-16
Packaged: 2018-07-15 10:44:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7219264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LostinFic/pseuds/LostinFic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alec sees an ex-girlfriend at the supermarket.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When words are not enough

Oranges, apples, carrots, potatoes, salad mix. Hardy can’t remember if there is a tomato left in the fridge. He picks a small one just in case. He pushes his cart into the next aisle: loaf of bread, a can of— _fuck_. He stops dead in his tracks. That woman, at the other end of the aisle… it can’t be. Hardy turns on his heels and hides around the corner of the shelves. He peeks back at her. Her hair is a different shade of blond, but when she cards a hand through it, he recognizes the tattoo on her inner wrist.

Hannah Baxter.   
Virginia Gold tobacco and _Obsession_ by Calvin Klein.  
Phone number: 020 7946 0440. Back when people still had landlines.  
Han.   
Han and Alec.   
God, he’d loved her so much.

Countless times, he had wondered what happened of her. More so since his divorce. His mouth goes dry as he considers talking to her. What would he say anyway? Still, he runs a hand through his hair and smooths his tie.

“Frosties or Crunchy-nuts?” Hannah asks, holding up two boxes of cereals.  
Hardy’s stomach drops when a young boy, around eight years old, walks up to her to pick one. A jumble of feelings, pleasant and unpleasant, rises and stirs in him. His chest feels too tight as though his heart is pushing against his lungs. He can’t name these feelings. Except when she kisses the boy’s head and a stab of resentment, cold as ice, runs through him.

She had said she didn’t want this kind of life. Back then, when things between them got serious. She had said she didn’t want a spouse, and a house and kids. He did. He had wanted the whole package. With her. He was ready to settle. She wasn’t. Then again, she was ten years younger than him. They were at different stages in their lives. And once they had realized this, it was the beginning of the end. No matter how much they loved each other, it was not enough.

But now, there is this domestic scene unfolding before his eyes, and he wants answers. How dare she have a son with another man? How can she have that life he wanted for them? Maybe it’s not love that was not enough. Maybe it was him.

Hardy takes a deep breath and unclenches his fists. _This is bloody ridiculous_. As ridiculous as spying on her from behind a stack of soup cans. Yet he can’t tear his eyes away.

Hannah checks her grocery list. “Olly, could you go get two avocados, I forgot to take some.”   
The boy sprints off, seemingly happy to have a mission. “Don’t run!” she shouts, but he has already disappeared around the corner.

Now. Now would be a good time to go talk to her. But his feet remain glued to the floor. There is too much to say and not enough all at once. And there’s a hope he can’t quite articulate. _Fool_. This is not the time, nor the place. He has no right to intrude like this on her life.

He leaves the grocery store empty-handed.

* * *

Hannah could have sworn it was Hardy she had seen this afternoon at Sainsbury’s. The man had left before she could get a good look. What would she have told him anyway?

“Hey, you remind me of a bloke I used to date.”

They had done a little more than dating. God, she’d loved him so much. And after a string of disappointing boyfriends, it’s hard not to regret letting Alec go. It was the hardest thing she ever had to do. 

What would he have to say about her current situation? Hannah herself still can’t believe she’s the sole custodian of her orphaned nephew. She could use someone like Alec now.

She shakes her head. He must be married anyway.

No point dwelling on the past, she has a lunch box to prepare.


End file.
